5 Vachellia grandicornuta / Acacia grandicornuta Seeds - Horned Thorn Tree - Hardy Indigenous

Vachellia grandicornuta Seeds

Fyndoring, Horingdoring; Horned Thorn

Vachellia is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae, commonly known as thorn trees or acacias. It belongs to the subfamily Mimosoideae. Its species were considered members of genus Acacia until 2009. Vachellia can be distinguished from other acacias by its capitate inflorescences and spinescent stipules. Before discovery of the New World, Europeans in the Mediterranean region were familiar with several species of Vachellia, which they knew as sources of medicine, and had names for them that they inherited from the Greeks and Romans. The wide-ranging genus occurs in a variety of open, tropical to subtropical habitats, and is locally dominant. In parts of Africa, Vachellia species are shaped progressively by grazing animals of increasing size and height, such as gazelle, gerenuk and giraffe. The genus in Africa has thus developed thorns in defence against such herbivory. The members of Vachellia are trees or shrubs, sometimes climbing, and are always armed. Of the 163 species currently assigned to Vachellia, 52 are native to the Americas, 83 to Africa, Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands, 32 to Asia and 9 to Australia and the Pacific Islands. Vachellia grandicornuta commonly known Horned Thorn in English and Fyndoring or Horingdoring in Afrikaans forms a medium sized tree, up to 12 meters in height. On drier sites however it performs more like a shrub to reach about 5 meters. It has a rounded irregular crown and out in nature can be found in woodland and dry thornveld, on clay rich depressions, drainage lines in gravelly open plains and riverine valleys. It can dominate larger areas and form thickets on clay rich soils. It is closely related and can be confused with the Vachellia robusta complex. If found the typically stout and slightly swollen spines distinguish this species from Vachellia robusta.